A Short History of the Best Bad Top of the Pops Performances

Let me tell you the tale of Top of the Pops. Since 1964, every Thursday evening Britain's youth would watch the ever-shifting weekly single chart show on BBC One. With performances from the most exciting bands all in the run up to the number one song in the country of that week. Its fondly remembered, but that's not to say it was ever that good. The performances were mimed to backing tracks, the vocals mostly lipsynced, the presenters were cheesy as the pop music, but despite this, Top of the Pops was a very big deal.

If your band had got on the show, you had, in some small way, “made it” in the pop world. It stands as a perfect archive of over 42 years of the British charts and the performances still live on in the public consciousness. The first glimpse of Ziggy Stardust. The public debate about Culture Club's Boy George. The Battle of Britpop. But not all performances on the show went as smoothly as others. Some are iconically bad or shambolic. So who like Rod Stewart on "Maggie May", Mud on "Lonely This Christmas" or Travis on "Sing" couldn't take the lipsyncing seriously? Why Did Dexys Midnight Runners have a dart legend as their backdrop for "Jackie Wilson Said"? And How did Manic Street Preachers while playing "Faster" result in 20K complaints? This and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana, "Blue Monday" by New Order and "Martha's Harbour" by All About Eve played very wrong. This is A Short History of Iconic Shambolic Top of the Pops Performances.

#TopofthePops #7Things #BBCMusic

Soundtrack:
sleepy fish – Forgot It Was Monday
(https://soundcloud.com/sleeepyfish)
Luar – Into (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats)
fantompower - blankets (https://soundcloud.com/fantompower)
Luar – Oblivion (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats)
Stars As Lights – Maps and Constellations (starsaslights.bandcamp.com)
yutaka hirasaka – eternal moment – ambient guitar loops take (https://yutakahirasaka.bandcamp.com)
Luar - Anchor (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats)

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